Yassine Salhi: The Last Player to Score a Hat-Trick in the Arab Cup, Among 13 from 9 Nations

Scoring three goals in a single match is a significant achievement in the history of the Arab Cup, a feat that has not been frequently repeated across its previous editions. According to statistics, a hat-trick has been recorded 16 times in the tournament's history by 13 players from nine different nationalities. However, the most recent edition did not witness any hat-tricks, despite some high-scoring matches.

Yassine Salhi holds the distinction of being the last player to score a hat-trick in the tournament, achieving it in 2012 when he led his national team to score three goals against Yemen. This marked the 16th hat-trick in the competition's history. Salhi thus joins a list of prominent players such as Kuwait's Abdul Rahman Al-Dawla, Libya's Ali Al-Beski, and Saudi Arabia's Obaid Al-Dosari, who have all managed to score multiple hat-tricks on different occasions.

These statistics highlight the difficulty of achieving a hat-trick in the Arab Cup, but they also underscore the individual accomplishments that have become immortalized in the tournament's history. Players have scored hat-tricks in legendary matches, including record-breaking performances such as Libyan Ahmed Ben Soueid's five goals against Yemen in 1966.

The question now remains: who will claim the 17th hat-trick in the upcoming edition of the tournament, scheduled to be held in Qatar, especially given the closely matched level of the participating Arab national teams this year?